The protest against the transfer of lion sculptures from the Cemetery in Lviv, which was expressed by Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland Bartosz Cichocki, is insanity.
The executive secretary of the State Interdepartmental Commission for perpetuating the memory of ATO participants, victims of war and political repression, Svyatoslav Sheremeta, stated this on the First Western TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“As for the reaction of the Polish Foreign Ministry, the deputy head, I cannot call it anything other than insanity. Their actions lately have gone beyond the boundaries of common sense. We are now celebrating the centenary of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, and as Poland celebrates the restoration of the Polish state, we must remember the past and look to the future. I am convinced that the Polish side, first of all, should have apologized to the Ukrainians for the events of a hundred years ago, for the fact that the actions, including those of those soldiers who lie in the Lychakiv cemetery, in Polish military graves, destroyed Ukrainian statehood. Ukrainians were deprived of statehood for many years, and this was done by representatives of the Polish state and those soldiers who lie in the Lychakiv cemetery.
The Polish side, instead of reaching an understanding with the Ukrainians, apologizing for the events of a hundred years ago, for their great-grandfathers, continues to expand, historical and political. This is unacceptable,” Sheremeta.
The lions at the Cemetery of the Defenders of Lviv (Eaglet Cemetery) were installed during the construction of the memorial itself in the 1920s, when Lviv was part of Poland. In 1951, the memorial was destroyed and restored only in 2005.
In 2015, with the permission of the Advisory Council on Cultural Heritage Protection under the Department of Historical Environment Protection of the Lviv City Council, sculptures of lions were installed. This caused a scandal - the lions were considered “militaristic symbols” and were covered with wooden shields. In the summer of 2018, Polish citizens tried to remove the shields.
In October 2018, the Lviv Regional Council decided to dismantle the militaristic symbols illegally installed on the territory of the Lychakiv Cemetery. The statement indicated that “the persistent desire of the Polish side to still place lion sculptures at the “Eaglets Cemetery” on the territory of the Lychakiv cemetery in Lviv is an integral part of the systemic strategy of the Polish political community, aimed at exploiting chauvinistic-imperial sentiments, including in relation to Lviv.”
The decision to dismantle the sculptures caused a protest from the Polish Foreign Ministry. Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland Bartosz Cichocki said that the dismantling of the lions is illegal because it contradicts the bilateral protocols on the reconstruction and restoration of the Lychakiv cemetery. He also warned the Ukrainian side about the negative consequences of such a step for bilateral relations.